


The Fine Line Between Good and Evil

by RabidRabbitsRabato



Category: Game Grumps, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Arguing, Blogging, Bromance, F/F, F/M, Fights, First Dates, Fluff and Angst, Hiatus, M/M, Made Up Science, Multi, Plot Twists, Psychic Abilities
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-03-10 12:49:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13501958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RabidRabbitsRabato/pseuds/RabidRabbitsRabato
Summary: How far will you go to get noticed by your hero?ORJack is a superhero and Mark is his biggest fan.U̶P̶D̶A̶T̶E̶S̶ ̶E̶V̶E̶R̶Y̶ ̶S̶U̶N̶D̶A̶Y̶ On temporary hiatus, will return soon.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work that has been sitting on my desktop for a while. I know where I wanted it to go, I just wasn't able to find the motivation to keep working on it. Originally I didn't want to post it until it was fully complete but maybe posting the chapters I do have done will help motivate me to continue more. Hearing feedback would help as well. But whatever the case may be, I hope you enjoy!
> 
> ~RRR
> 
> P.S. Like most of my stories there will be a plot twist but because this is going to be a longer story I'm putting on comment moderation incase anyone figures it out. I want it to be a surprise to some people! But feel free to comment, including your guesses, I will most likely allow it and respond!!!

Mark pulled into the parking space and put his vehicle in park. He turned off his car, got out and locked the doors, before heading to a glass door under a sign proclaiming 'Echo Valley Journal'. He loved working as a journalist: finding a topic, gathering facts, writing an article on it; it was his dream job. Ever since he was a child Mark had enjoyed the process of figuring out how things happened and then sharing his new knowledge with others, so each morning he was overjoyed to finally have a career that used both his talents and interests. Of course there were some down sides. He had to get up earlier than he would like, the company 'encouraged' the employees to exercise by making them use the stairs and he was on the third floor, and he was on the very bottom of the ladder meaning he rarely got any stories bigger than the high school's football games.

Mark's mood soured as he remembered the recent chance he had for a big story. It was stolen by Ivan, a coworker he didn't get along with well in the first place. The story itself was a generic one on their city's local superhero, Septiceye. Normally he would not of been upset about it, he was use to losing stories, but had Ivan somehow gotten an interview through email. And he didn't even care! Ivan acted like it was nothing, like it wasn't the first time anyone had communicated with Septiceye. Mark would cut off his arm if it meant he got the chance to talk with the hero he looked up to! Well, not his arm, maybe a finger. Or a toe.

Realizing he was scowling, Mark smoothed out his expression before opening the door marked with a large 3. Avoiding looking in direction of Ivan, he headed to his desk, smiling at a few people as he passed them. He had barely sat down in his seat when Alisha tapped him on the shoulder.

"Richard wants to see you in his office," she said when he turned around.

As Mark stood up he wondered what his boss wanted. He knocked lightly on the door and after he heard a "Come in" he opened the door with a bright smile.

"Don't do that. This hard enough without..." Richard cut himself off, shaking his head, and gestured to the chair in front of him.

Sitting down cautiously, Mark asked, "What's going on?"

"You're a good employee, Mark. You're hardworking, loyal, and passionate about your job. But the company is making some cut backs." Richard sighed when he saw Mark was still confused. "You're being let go."

"...Oh."

"Even though I argued for the potential I see in you, you haven't been here as long as some other people. And the personnel that I thought would be a better option got some publicity recently so, yeah. The company is unwilling to lose him. I'm sorry Mark."

Mark took a deep breath and stood up. "It's alright. I get it."

Richard stood up as well and put out a hand to shake. "It was nice working with you. You are a talented journalist and I hope you know you can always use me as a reference, if you need it."

"Thanks," Mark said and left the office, heading to his former desk.

After packing his minimal belongings, Mark turned around to leave only to find Ivan standing in his way.

"Did wittle Markie get fired?" Ivan said condescendingly before leaning in close and lowering his voice, as if telling a secret, "Of course you did. You don't have the balls to do what is necessary to get anywhere. The world of reporting is competitive and you aren't intelligent enough to outsmart anyone, you don't have the guts to get your hands dirty, and you aren't strong enough to fight your way to the top."

Mark clenched both his jaw and hands at the smug look on his ex-coworker's face. He was tempted to show Ivan just how strong he was.

Mark saw himself swing a fist toward Ivan. He saw Ivan standing in a bar. He saw Ivan's nose get broken. He saw Ivan sidestep a drunk swing by an unknown man. He saw the fine he had to pay and his perfect record blemished. He saw Ivan make sure the other man went to jail for the night. He saw the trouble he had with getting a job because of 'anger issues'.

As satisfying as punching Ivan would be, it would just cause more problems. So Mark stepped around the obstacle in front of him and muttered, "Leave me alone."

Since it was the last time he would ever be inside this building, Mark took the elevator.


	2. Chapter 2

Unlocking and opening the door to his apartment, Mark was met with silence. His roommate must still be out with his girlfriend. He was glad to be alone but he needed to do something to distract himself out of his dazed state. Mark grabbed his laptop and sat down on the couch. He opened a new browsing window only to be overwhelmed with sudden anger at his home page. 'EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SUPERHERO SEPTICEYE' was displayed on the front page of Echo Valley Journal's website. Mark slammed shut the screen and shoved the computer away from him, it falling off the table on to the carpeted floor. As fast as it had come the anger disappeared, leaving Mark exhausted. He slumped forward, rested his head in his hand, and stared out the window.

"You're home early," commented a voice behind him.

Mark looked around in surprise and saw his friend and roommate Felix had arrived home. Looking at the clock hanging on the wall he was disturbed to find it was 12:47. He had been sitting there for almost 4 hours.

"I got laid off."

"Oh. Man, I'm sorry. You doing okay?"

"I'm just dandy! It's not like everything I have worked for has been destroyed!" Mark said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"I know just what will help." Felix spoke brightly, ignoring Mark's tone, and opened the fridge. Grabbing two cans he place them firmly on the table in front of Mark.

"You want to get wasted at one in the afternoon?"

"Yeah! I have nothing better to do, and neither do you, unless you see a reason not to."

Mark sighed. Although having someone in on his secret was nice, sometimes he regretted showing it to Felix. "You know that's not how it works. It's a-"

"Chain reaction, lack of control, past and future, blah blah blah. But that's not an excuse not to have some fun. If anything it's a good reason. You won't know what happens until-"

"Argh! Fine, fine! I'll join you as long as you shut up." Mark took one can for himself and tossed the other at his friend.

Felix flailed for moment before successfully clutching the can against his chest. "That could of killed me!"

"If only I was so lucky."

* * *

"Is there a reason your laptop is on the floor?"

Mark rubbed the back of his neck and answered, "Um, I kinda got angry. Ivan wrote a first page article and that's why I got fired and he didn't."

"Ivan's the asshole you always complain about?" Felix asked as he crawled forward and grabbed the computer from his place seated on the ground. Directly next to him was a towel soaking up spilled beer from a can that had been shaken.

"Yeah."

"You should have password protection."

"Hmm, maybe." Mark said without meaning it.

"So it was on Sam? That adds insult to injury."

"Yep."

"You know, you shouldn't be so jealous."

"I'm not jealous."

"Then what would call you getting angry at someone getting to have minimal contact with a hero of your's?"

Mark refused to look at Felix and stayed silent.

"Yeah, jealousy. The sooner you accept that the sooner you can move on. That's not my point though. My point is that you really think Sam even knows who Ivan is? That Sam is going to notice someone ordinary?"

Mark finally looked down to Felix and spoke dryly. "Thanks for making me, completely ordinary me, feel better."

"But you aren't ordinary! You have that psychic thing and you are smart enough to do anything."

"So what? You think I should become some sort of superhero? This town already has one and I don't think he would be very happy with me trying to replace him."

"No, no, no. That's not what I mean. I meant...Try to keep an open mind alright?" Felix waited for Mark to nod slowly. "Alright. Think of all the famous fictional superheros. What do they all have in common?"

Mark said slowly, "They all have super powers?"

"No! Well, yes, but that not what I'm talking about. They all have a nemesis. Lex Luther to Superman, the Joker to Batman, Loki to Thor, name any hero and they have an archenemy."

"You think I could be the Magneto to Septiceye's Professor X."

"Exactly!"

"I don't know. I don't think I could do all the villainy things they are capable of."

"You don't have to. You could be like, I don't know, an anti villain. Do 'villainy things' but only to people who are terrible humans."

"I guess I'll think about it." Mark started to stand up. "But for now I'm going to-" He stopped speaking as he was hit by dizziness and his vision darkened.

"Hey, you okay? You didn't have that much to drink." Mark heard Felix talking but it sound like he was a distance away. Mark tried to turn toward his friend, but instead saw the floor rising to meet him.

"MARK!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DRAMA!!!


	3. Chapter 3

Mark closed his eyes and leaned back against the hospital pillow. He had been stuck all night seated on a uncomfortably hard bed with itchy sheets. And he had at least another hour wait before he could leave. To make things worse, a pounding headache started to form behind his eyes. And Mark didn't have anything to distract himself with. His phone had been confiscated along with his clothing the night before, Felix was still at their apartment, and he was lucky enough to get the room with the broken TV. 

"Hi!"

Flinching back from the sudden voice, Mark prepared to scowl at whoever dared to disturb his rest. Opening his eyes he gave his best dirty look at the person standing at the foot of his bed. 

The man didn't take any notice of it. 

"Did I startle you? Sorry! I didn't mean to."

He look sincerely concerned, so Mark decided to take some pity on him and play nice. It would be something to entertain him for awhile, anyway.

"It's fine. I zoning out and probably wouldn't of noticed if the building started on fire! By the way I'm Mark." Mark held out his hand to shake and in the blink of an eye the other man was standing there.

"I'm Jack!" He said with a cheerful grin. Mark smiled back and ignored the images of the guy, Jack, introducing himself a dozen times over flitting through his brain.

As he let go of Jack's hand, Mark looked him over. Brown hair, blue eyes, still smiling, skinny, sweatshirt, jeans, and tennis shoes. "If you don't mind me saying, you don't look like you work here."

Jack laughed, "Well I'm not a doctor, if that's what you're asking!"

"Are you a patient or a nurse or something?"

"I help take care of the kids in the children's department."

"No offense intended but you seem more like a child than a caretaker."

"None taken! I hear that all the time; I think it's what makes me good at it."

"What's with-"

"Hey! If we're going to play 20 question, I think I deserve to ask one or two."

"Alright, shoot." Jack's energy was infectious and Mark found himself not noticing how fast time was passing. Before he knew it an hour had past and a nurse was knocking on the door.

"Mr. Fischbach?"

"Yes?"

"Everything came out clean, so you're free to go. Just remember, no drinking," she said as she handed Mark a bag of his personal items.

"Thanks, and I'll remember."

She left and Mark turned to Jack. "I'm going to get changed. You can stay here or, I guess, leave. You probably have things to do." Feeling his face turn red, Mark nearly ran to the side bathroom.

"Nope! I got nothing to do, and even if I did I think you are much more entertaining. Do you have a ride home?" Jack shouted through the door.

"Uh, I think so." Mark grabbed his phone and sent a text to Felix. Within a few seconds he got a reply.

"Yeah, my friend will be picking me up in 10."

"I'll wait with you then."

Finished with changing out of the hospital gown, Mark stepped back outside.

"I'm going to wait in the parking lot."

"Okie dokie!" Jack sprung up from his seated position on the bed and headed down the hallway with Mark.

"So you can't drink alcohol?"

"Apparently not. My body can't process it right or something."

"You can still have caffeine though, right?"

"Yeah?" 

"Okay, good! It would of been really awkward asking you if you wanted to go get a glass of water with me!"

Mark froze in the middle of the bustling walkway, oblivious to the annoyed looks from the attendants, and stared at Jack. When the silence went on for a bit too long Jack started showing uncertainty for the first time since Mark met him.

"Or not. You're probably not interested. I made a mistake, sorry for making things weird. You can find the parking lot by yourself just follow the signs. It was nice talking to you, bye!"

Seeing Jack making a quick exit Mark snapped out of his stupefaction. "Wait, Jack! I'd love to get coffee with you. Or even water."

"Really?"

"Yep. But I need your number."

Jack walked back over to Mark and took the offered phone and started typing his contact info in.

"As nice as it is that you finally found someone to spend the rest of your lonely existence with, and he's not too hard on the eyes either, you're blocking the way of everyone else, Jack."

Both men looked up at the new voice. 

"Hey, Tyler. Um, sorry everyone!" After addressing the crowds of people glaring at them, Jack pulled the other two into an empty room. "Mark this is Tyler, Tyler this is Mark. I actually think you would get along pretty well." As Jack was making introductions the phone that was still in his hands dinged. "Oh, here you go, Mark."

Mark took the phone and saw it was a text from Felix asking where he was. "It was nice meeting you, Tyler," he said as he shook the taller man's hand. "But I'm afraid I have to go. I have a friend waiting for me. And Jack? I'll text you later tonight." Mark smiled and turned to leave.

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you too. I just thought I'd help the people you were annoying because you two were too caught up in each other to noticed. But I do need to talk to you, Jack."

"You guys are going to get along so great! Or terribly, I haven't decided yet!"


	4. Chapter 4

Mark easily found Felix standing outside of his car. As he walked up his friend raised an eyebrow and asked, "What took you so long?"

Opening the passenger door and sitting down Mark responded, "Oh you know. I was just getting a date."

Felix's demeanor changed instantly. "Oooo! Tell!"

"Let's get something to eat first."

"Hmph. Fine. Where to?"

"Anywhere that has better food than this place. You would think hospitals would put more effort into making their meals taste good with how many people eat there."

Mark was quiet as his friend drove for a few minutes then parked in front of a quaint store front. Mark chuckled as he read the orange lettered sign, "Gluten Grumps? Um, okay then."

"I know the name's a bit odd, but the pastries are to die for. Me and Marzia go here for dates all the time."

Both men got out of the vehicle and headed inside. As they opened the door a bell chimed, alerting the worker behind a counter of their presence.

"Hello! Welcome to Gluten Grumps! What would you like today?" Felix waved to the grinning man and then led Mark to one of the many empty tables scattered about.

"Hey bro! We'll have two Burgies."

"Felix! Nice to see ya again! And who's the nice piece of ass you brought along? Did Marzia leave you after finally realizing she could do so much better?"

As Mark and Felix got comfortable the man brought over two plates and set them on the table.

Mark laughed and stuck out his hand to shake. "The name's Mark. And no, despite how much I tell her that. I'm just Felix's side hoe."

"I'm Dan! I can't-" The bell above the door rung and more customers came. "Ah, duty calls. We'll have to talk later. Enjoy your sugared death!"

At the strange parting Mark looked down at his plate. It seemed to be a stack of two chocolate chip cookies with a brownie in between, held together by green, red, and yellow colored frosting. Picking it up he also noted that there was a smiling face on the side.

"It's a desert burger?" He asked uncertainly of Felix.

"It's a fucking delicious! They call it Burgie and it worth the years it takes off your life."

Mark stared at it for a few more seconds before taking a small bite out of it's face. The sweetness dissolved over his tongue and his eyes closed, involuntary.

"MMMMMMMMMM!"

"If you react to my baking like that I can't wait to hear what noises you'd make for me tonight."

Without bothering to look at the new speaker, Mark spoke to Felix. "Apparently I'm finding all the gays today. If my date doesn't work out I'll still be set for life."

"Brian! Stop tormenting the customers!" Dan shouted from across the counter.

"Awww, is a whittle baby jealous?" The most recent customers stared, confused and a little weirded out, as that was yelled back with no hesitation.

Mark chuckled as Dan let his face fall into his hands. "We're gonna go bankrupt between you and Ross."

"Did I hear my name?"

"God, please save me."

"Um, actually could we just get those to go?" The female customer asked, pointing at the pastries ordered.

"No, no! It's fine if you guys eat here, nobody is going to cause trouble," Dan said hurriedly, glaring at his two co-workers.

The man shook his head. "We'll take them to go. It's getting crowded in here anyways."

Looking around, Mark saw he was right. The cafe wasn't very big to begin with and the six people with the furniture left very little room.

"A-alright. I hope this hasn't impacted your thoughts on this establishment." Dan handed the bag to the man. He shook his head and the lady gave a tight smile as they left, bell chiming again.

Dan took a deep breath and spoke stiffly to the now quiet trouble-makers, "If you two could go back to work before we lose more customers? Please?"

Ross and Brian made vague sounds of agreement as they both left. The café went quiet as Dan started to reorganize the display case under the counter.

"Well that was a thing that happened," Felix said to Mark.

"It certainly was."

"So..."

"So?"

"YOUR DATE!"

Mark chuckled. "It's really not that interesting. It was just a guy called Jack who asked me out."

"..."

"Really? Pouting?"

"..."

"There's nothing else to tell!"

"..."

"Fine! If I tell you everything, about every single hair on his face, will you be happy?"

Felix was silent as he mockingly considering it for a moment.

"Yes."

So Mark conceded and told his friend about his morning in the hospital.


	5. Chapter 5

Mark threw his head back with a loud groan.

Felix raised an eyebrow as he looked up from his phone at who dared to interrupt his intense game of Candy Crush(TM). "What's up?"

"Another one of my applications got turned down."

Wincing, Felix empathized, "Ouch. Isn't that your third one so far?"

"Yep."

"You'd think with your experience and old boss's reference..."

"I don't think they are even bothering contacting Richard. I haven't even got one interview. Apparently there are too many people with better qualifications applying," Mark said with a touch of bitterness.

"Maybe the universe is trying to tell you to try something else?"

"I don't want to do anything else though! Journalism is my passion! If I have to get a job flipping burgers or, god forbid, being an accountant I'd honestly die."

"I don't know then, dude. I'm just telling you what I would think if I was in your situation. Hopefully your luck will turn soon."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry for snapping. It's just really stressful."

"You're fine! I get it."

"You know I really appreciate you being such a good friend. I'd don't know where I'd be if it weren't for you."

"Probably dead," Felix said distracted by his game once again.

"True. I'm gonna try to get some sleep."

"'Kay. See ya tomorrow morning."

Mark left to the sound of Swedish swearing as Felix lost the level.

* * *

"Felix! Felix!"

Felix turned around from pouring his coffee to see an excited and, more importantly, pantless Mark running toward him. "Good morning to you too!"

"I know what I'm going to do!"

"Put pants on?"

"No! Pants are overrated anyways!"

Felix nodded and then pulled his own slacks off. When Mark blinked with confusion he exclaimed, "What? I was feeling over dressed!"

Mark started laughing but remembered his news he was originally going to share. "I had an epiphany about what I can do to make money and do something I enjoy when I woke up this morning!"

"Really?! What is it?!" Felix sat down on the couch and passed a second mug of coffee to Mark who sat next to him soon after.

"Blogging!"

"Blogging?"

"Blogging!"

"Yeah, that would fit your criteria. But it would basically be like starting your own company. Are you sure you could deal with how long it could take for you to gain any ground?"

Mark gimmicked and looked down. "I don't know, to be honest. But I've gotta try; I can't just give up on my dreams without knowing I exhausted all possiblities."

"I understand. And I'll be here to support you like always."

"Thanks, man."

"No problem. I know you'd do the same for me."

Mark nodded and there was a comfortable silence between the two for a few moments.

"Hey, what are you going to be writing about?"

Rubbing his neck, Mark let out a nervous chuckle. "I may have to figure that out still."

"Seriously?"

"Hey! I just got the idea this morning. I need time to think."

"Speaking of time to think, did you think on my idea about-" Felix was interrupted by the door bell.

Mark got up and went to the door. Looking out of the peephole he saw it was an older women holding a bunch of pamphlets. He unlocked the door and pulled it open with a bright smile.

"Good morning!"

Instead of responding in kind as Mark expect the lady looked taken aback.

"Can I help you, miss?"

She shook herself slightly and then smiled and held out one of the pamphlets for Mark to take. "No, but you can help-"

"Who is it, Mark?" Felix walked up from behind Mark and then stood at his side. The women's mouth literally dropped open and she clutched the cross that hung around her neck.

"Uh, the-that will tell you all you need to know! Good day." With that she turned on her heel and quickly walked to the next apartment.

Mark closed the door after staring after her and looked at Felix for answers. "What was her problem?"

"Probably that neither of us are wearing pants."

"Oh. OH! She thought..."

"Yep!" Felix smiled and wrapped an arm around Mark's waist. He whispered in Mark's ear, "Want to go back to bed, honey?"

Mark laughed and pushed Felix off. "But seriously, that was really rude."

"Mmhm. Though it could of gone much worse."

"Have."

"What?"

"Not could of. It's could have."

Felix was silent for a moment then asked, "What could of she wanted?"

"That sentence doesn't even make any sense! You douche!"

"Ass."

Mark looked down at the paper in his hand, "Pebble Foundation? It's apparently a charity that raises money to help international children with medical care."

"Cool! Even if their door to door awareness raiser is a bit homophobic."

"I'd donate but, you know, no income."

"I think I might. Does it give an address?"

"Yeah. It's on the outskirts of town."

"Could you do me a big favor? Please?"

"You want me to go for you."

Felix looked sheepish. "I'm really busy this week."

"Well, me and Jack are meeting near there so I can stop in before hand."

"Yay!" Felix threw his arms around Mark.

"But you owe me one!"

Felix just nuzzled him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologizes for all the bromance going on between Felix and Mark. I know some of you may prefer this story to focus on Mark and Jack's relationship and next chapter you'll get it!


	6. Chapter 6

"Take next right," chimed a robotic female voice.

"I _know_. I can see the giant blue sign," Mark yelled pointlessly at his phone.

It was a beautiful day outside today; birds were singing, flowers blooming, and kids burning in schools that never installed air conditioners. So instead of driving to drop off the donation Felix put in an envelope for Mark, he was getting some exercise by walking across town.

Mark turned off the directions and powered off his phone before walking into the building.

"Welcome to Pebble Foundation, where we strive to keep all children happy and healthy! Would you like to donate today?" A smiling woman greeted from behind a desk.

"Ah, yes." Mark walked up to the desk and held out the envelope. "Is there a place I can put it or...?"

"I can take it! Anything else I can help you with today?"

"Nope! I think that's all. Thanks." With his task complete he walked out the door and started down the sidewalk.

"Now where was that park again?" He asked himself and reached for his phone in his pant's pocket.

"Shit! Did I set it down in there?" Mark spun around and walked inside. But the woman who talked to him was no longer sitting there to greet and assist.

"Oh well," he said softly and looked around for his phone with no luck. Perhaps she had taken it to the back room for safe keeping already?

"Hello?" Mark carefully opened the only door available that would hopefully lead to where she went. No one answered so he stepped inside letting the door shut softly behind him.

"Um, I'm looking for my phone!" He called out when he heard voices, praying he wouldn't get arrested for trespassing or something. They didn't stop talking so he walked closer.

Soon Mark was able to make out what was being said and it made him stop from trying to call attention to himself again.

"-Your half of the donation, sir."

"Thank you! And you recorded the correct amount down, correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good! We wouldn't want the same thing happening to you that happened to my last assistant."

"Of-of course not. What happened to her, if you don't mind me asking, sir?"

"Oh, she just got fired."

"I see," the female voice, Mark assumed it was the lady he talked to earlier, sounded relived.

"And sent to prison for embezzling funds. It was so disappointing that she would do that with charity money."

She was quiet and Mark took that as his signal to leave. He didn't want to find out what would happen if he was caught listening. Probably something worse than prison.

Mark escaped outside and down the street without incident.

"Fuck!" It was obvious that whoever the man talking was was stealing from the charity. And he let his assistant take the fall for it in the past and wouldn't hesitate to do so again.

As Mark contemplated what he was suppose to do with this information he heard his phone ding. From his jacket pocket.

Face-palming at his own stupidity, he pulled it out and saw a new text.

 **Jack:**   _Where you at? I hope you aren't thinking about standing me up! :)_

Quickly he typed out a message.

 **Mark:** _omw got a bit lost sry_

Pushing his discovery out of his mind to deal with at a later date, Mark hurried to the park he was to meet Jack at.

When he arrived, with direction from his phone, Mark was overjoyed to find it was a dog park. He was able to spot Jack sitting on a bench under a shady tree with little difficulty. He meant to hurry over but quickly got distracted by the many different breeds of dogs that came up to him that he _needed_ to pet.

"Do I really need to compete with Ginger for your heart?"

Mark looked up from the Saint Bernard he was vigorously patting to see Jack was standing above him.

Without standing up and only slowing his scratching of the dog down slightly, Mark shook his head. "You would never be able to come close to beating _any_ pupper. Might as well give up now!"

Jack, playing along, frowned and shouted to the sky in fake despair, "Woe is me! My own dog has betrayed me! Will she never allow me any happiness outside of her own making?"

The Saint Bernard, Ginger, nosed Mark as he gave up on petting to laughed and try to respond. This only made both him and Jack start laughing uncontrollably.

After a few minutes of almost gaining control only to be set off again by one another choking out a repetition of what was said or acted before, Mark sat up from where he ended up laying on the grass and wiped tears away from his eyes.

"I think I burned a lot of calories from that 'cause now I'm hungry. Wanna get something to eat?"

"This wouldn't be a good date without food! Come on!"

Jack jumped up and started leading the way to food vendors parked along the edge of the park. "Pizza, tacos, or hot dogs?"

"Um, tacos! Is there really any other choice?"

They both ordered with out any incidents then found a picnic table to sit at. Mark 'accidentally' dropped half of his taco meat onto the ground which Ginger quickly gobbled up.

Jack laughed but said instead, "So, tell me about yourself."

"Good first date question but you already know the basics from our talk in the hospital!"

"Yeah, but that was just simple stuff. I want to be able to steal your identity I know you so well!" Jack paused. "That sounded a lot creepier when said out loud."

"I knew you were too good to be true! You don't want to just get in my pants, you want to make everyone think you're...in my pants? That analogy didn't work."

Jack stood up and slammed his palms onto the table in passion. "That is exactly what I want! Everyone needs to know I'm in your pants!"

"Um, Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"People are staring."

Jack looked around and saw, sure enough, the other nearby park goers had stopped their activities and were looking at him. He quickly sat down and hid his reddening face. "I forgot other people existed."

"You seem to do that a lot," said Mark through his laughter at his companion's embarrassment. Jack just groaned.

"So the short story of my life? Hmmm. Well I was born and grew up here in Echo Valley. I was planning to move and go explore the world but after my father died I couldn't just leave my mom all alone. So I stayed here and got a degree in journalism. And after my mom moved I just stayed here, I guess. Didn't really see the point in following a childish dream when I had a job and a place to live and friends here. Whoops, that got sad fast. Um, why don't you tell me about your life?"

Jack looked at Mark with pity but refrained from commenting. "I was born and raised here as well! My parents had a lot of money but they thought it best for me to grow up like all the other children, which I'm really thankful for. I don't want to know how I might of turned out if they had spoiled me. They both passed away a few years ago, unfortunately. I have enough from their wills to live comfortably for the rest of my life with out work but I think I'd go mad if I had nothing to do but sit in my cabin all day. So I work at the children's sector of the hospital. They do have to pay me for legal reasons but I get around that by donating it back to them."

"Wow, that's really good of you!"

"It's the least I can do. The higher ups have recently cut spending for advertising so we aren't nearly getting the donations we need to help the kids that need it but who's parent's can't afforded it. It's awful but nobody can do anything about it. But this is suppose to be a fun day! Let's lighten the mood! Come on you two, let's go see what we can find for entertainment!" Jack ran off with his dog bounding after him. Mark got up as well and started following them as an idea slowly formed in his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter may be a little rough! I decided to scrap the whole thing this morning and rewrite it because I didn't like the way it was originally. But I didn't have time to edit it if I was to get it out today. And I did get it out in time! Stop yelling at me, time zones are a thing! I haven't failed getting one chapter out every Sunday yet! And this is my longest chapter so far! Time to celebrate! With sleep!


	7. Chapter 7

Once again Mark was seated on the couch staring with disappointment at his laptop. He had created a blog, even paying for a custom URL and freedom to design his own pages. He's recent adventure at the Pebble Foundation gave him inspiration for his first article. The gist of it was to research charities before donating. Knowing he couldn't point fingers at the Pebble Foundation with no hard evidence he only briefly mentioned it along side other organizations that had past cases of fraud. Mark had posted that article yesterday and was currently watching the live counter of how many visitors there had been so far.

1

Aka, Felix.

He knew it would take awhile for his page to gain any attention but when it was something so important? He wanted to make a difference now!

Mark sighed, gaining the attention of his roommate scrolling through some sort of social media next to him.

"Dude, we talk about this."

"I know. I just hate how little I can do about the injustices of this world."

"Yeah, but you can only do so much. You can't take out a corrupted organization all on your own."

Mark nodded but got a contemplative look on his face.

"Oh no. Whatever you are thinking of doing, don't."

"Not fair! It's your idea!"

After a moment of confusion Felix realized what Mark was talking about. "No, no, no!"

"What?"

"That was just a stupid drunken idea!"

"But-"

"You'll end up being caught and going to jail! Or worse! You are not allowed to put your life on the line just to try to stop one criminal or get attention from some ridiculous celebrity crush!"

By the end of his rant Felix was out of breath and Mark was staring in shock. Felix lifted his hands to rub his face. "...Sorry."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm going to bed. I'll see you tomorrow." With that Felix left to his respective room, leaving a very confused Mark behind.

"What the actual fuck?"

* * *

In the morning Mark was awake before Felix and had a breakfast of omelets made for both of them. He was sitting at the dinning table with both plates, determined to make Felix tell him what was going on. When Felix came out he grinned at the food.

"Yummy! What's the occasion?"

"Bribery."

"Hmmm?" He sat down across from Mark and picked up his utensils to dig in.

"What happened last night?"

"Eh, you know. Just a bad day."

Mark reached over and pulled the fork out his friends hand. Felix made an indignant noise.

"We have lived together for 4 years. I know how you act when upset. That was not _just a bad day._ "

Mark caught Felix looking annoyed for just a second before he sighed but didn't speak.

"I wish you would tell me what's going on. I want to help."

"The best way for you to help is if you just drop it. My fork that is!" Felix tried to smile but it didn't reach his eyes.

Mark was silent for a moment then gave fork back. "When you are ready to talk I'll listen." With that he got up, leaving his food behind, and, ignoring the visions of other people, both known and unknown, walking down the hall, went to his bedroom.

It took well into the evening before Mark heard a knock on his door. He opened it and found Felix as expected.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Do you still want to talk?"

"Mhmm." Mark left the door open to let Felix in and took a seat on his bed, leaving a desk chair open.

"So what's going on?"

"Stress from work and me and Marzia had a fight so I was really tense yesterday. And the thought that you could get hurt from an idea I mentioned made me snap I guess."

"Oh."

"I know how much you want to do something though so I got something for you." Felix pulled out a flash drive and held it out for Mark to take.

"Uh, thanks?"

"Your welcome! It's not my nude pictures though, so don't get too excited!"

"Aww, then what is it?"

"It's basically a preprogrammed hacking tool! Plug it into a computer and it will get through most passwords!"

"How in the world did you get something like this?!"

"You'd be surprised what sucking a few dicks can get you!"

Mark shook his head. "I can't accept this."

"Like hell you can't! I was an asshole to you last night. The least I can do is help you get some evidence to screw over other assholes!"

"What happened to not wanting me to act on your idea?"

"I trust you to be smart enough to not let any of my worries happen. Plus it would be awesome to be your villainous sidekick!"

"Alright, I guess. I think that would be called a minion though."

"Oh God! We need to watch the movie that ruined that word for all evil master minds now!"

"I think it's on Netflix!"

"Movie night?"

"Movie night!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here ya go! Thoughts?


	8. Chapter 8

"I'll be waiting here in case you need a quick getaway!"

"I'd get a quicker getaway with Mrs. Johnson driving."

"But she always drives under the speed-ooh. Hey!"

Mark laughed and got out of the car as Felix flailed about in an attempt to wack him.

"See ya in a few minutes!" With that Mark left and walked the two blocks to his destination, the Pebble Foundation building.

Mark arrived in the back parking lot and started toward the employ's door. However, before he could check if it was unlocked a man opened it. Ducking behind a convenient van, Mark waited for him to leave. The man dug out his phone and then headed to the other end of the lot while making a call. Taking advantage of the slowly closing door, Mark slipped inside.

Being careful to keep quiet, Mark walked down the hallway checking each room for an office. The first door was glass and he could see it was a meeting room with a large table and projector but just in case he opened the door to confirm there was nothing of use. The second room held a variety of cleaning supplies. Third one was the charm with a desk and computer.

Mark stepped in and shut the door. He walked around the desk to find the computer on, showing a log in screen. Mark stared at it for a moment, holding the flash drive in his hand.

Was this really the right thing to do? Well nothing bad could happen from just putting it in. He could decide later if he wanted to share the information he finds.

Mark took a deep breath, steeling himself, and put the drive into an open USB port. Almost immediately a popup appeared and a loading bar began filling with blue. Mark looked around the desk to entertain himself, seeing a framed photo of the man he saw earlier with an arm around a woman, presumably his wife and some uninteresting papers. Looking at the screen again he saw it was only a quarter way done so he walked around the room for more things to explore. Going to a book shelf he pulled one out. It opened with the feel of never being opened before and reading it Mark understood why. It was so boring he felt like he could easily fall asleep standing there. He put the book back and looked for better distractions. The walls were blank and the only other piece of furniture was an arm chair in the corner with a lamp standing next to it. Taking a closer look at the front of the desk he saw a name plaque that said Vladimir Muir.

And then Mark heard a voice coming down the hall. Knowing his luck it would be this Vladimir guy. In a slight panic Mark rushed out of the office and went into the next nearest room: the supply closet. With nowhere to hide, unless he lost a lot of weight in a few seconds to fit behind the mop, he shut the door and silently begged to not be discovered.

"-know. I'm doing that right now. Just wait two seconds." Mark heard the office door open and Vladimir walk inside. Just as the voice went dead quiet he remembered the flash drive still plugged into the computer.

"...I'm going to have to call you back. There's a little problem I need to take care of. No, no. Nothing you need to worry about, dear."

Mark tensed as his internal monologue turned into "Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck". There was no way out of this. The only way he could possible escape was if Vladimir checked one of the other rooms first and somehow spent enough time looking that Mark would be able to get out this room, then building, and finally get to Felix. With that as his only option Mark waited and listened for where the deliberate footsteps led. Absolute terror filled his body when he heard them stop right outside of his door. Unable to breath, Mark watched the door knob turn agonizingly slow.

Gasping, Mark blink and stumbled while looking around. He was back in the office still holding the flash drive.

Freaking out, Mark ran to the front of the desk, tripping over the rolling chair, and saw the name was still Vladimir Muir. He then went to the bookcase and pulled out the one he remembered grabbing before. Opening it, he found it was stiff and, although he didn't open it to the same page, just as boring.

Finding comfort in the proof he wasn't completely insane, Mark pushed aside his panic and realized he needed to find somewhere to hide if Vladimir was checking the office as he did before.

Going into the hallway, Mark was relieved to not hear any voices yet. It gave him so extra time to think through his choices. The meeting room was a no go; it was moving closer to where Vladimir came in and anyone inside would be easily seen even with the door open. The supply closet had no hiding places inside if everything continued to hold true and it was the first place Vladimir checked. So that left two options. The farthest door would led to the main lobby, where he had come in the first time to donate so long ago. As far as he could remember there wasn't much besides the secretary's desk and a few plants. The front door would most likely be alarmed as it was after hours. If the one door he had yet to open was not a good choice that would be his plan B.

The slight shaking still in his hands left as Mark figured out what he was to do. He headed to the unknown door and found it opening with ease. Looking inside he found it was lined with filing cabinets and a table covered in paperwork sat in the middle. The table did have a table cloth reaching to the floor but Mark decided against this room as the one hiding spot was too obvious. Shutting the door he instead moved to the final door. Planning quickly he figured he could stay behind the desk until Vladimir either left or came in. If he came in he would make a run for the front door and Felix. Gripping the door knob, Mark turned it.

Or tried to. It stopped halfway. Staring in shock at the knob and the hand holding it he futilely shook it a few times before figuring out that that would not unlock it. At that moment Mark heard Vladimir's now familiar voice. It seemed he only had one place to go.

Mark shut the door just before Vladimir would have seen him. Ducking under the table, Mark stayed silent and heard the same conversation.

"-know. I'm doing that right now. Just wait two seconds."

As Mark's eyes adjusted to the darkness he could see a darker lump across from him.

"You know what I meant! Two minutes. I'm in the office right now."

Mark reached out to grab it but as he was pulling it toward himself he bumped his head on the top of the table. Holding his cry in, he froze and listened to see if Vladimir noticed it.

"See I told you it was okay. It was only one time I forgot, yet you won't ever let me live it down, will you? Nobody would even be able to get into the building, logging out isn't necessary."

Relaxing, he held what felt like a bag and waited for Vladimir to leave.

"I know, I know. I love you, too. I'll be-" His voice faded into gibberish and then silence. However, Mark waited five more minutes before stepping out. He was somewhat surprised to find the lights out but made his way outside without any trouble. In the street light he saw what he was holding was indeed a bag, a backpack to be specific. Noticing he had been gone for much longer than expected, Mark slung the back over one shoulder and jogged to the designated meeting place without opening it.

Felix was parked in the same place. Mark got into the passenger's seat and fully relaxed for the first time since the night started.

"What took so long? And what is that?" Felix asked nodding to the bag as he pulled out and heading back to their shared apartment.

"Just give me a moment, please. I need to process everything."

"Alright, bro."

The ride was silent and when they arrived back home the first thing Mark did was unzip the backpack and dump the contents onto the living room table.

An uncountable at first glance amount of money clips scattered across the table and floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to keep trying to update this every Sunday but some weeks it may be late as life is becoming really stressful. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter none-the-less!
> 
> EDIT: Chapter posted twice. Deleted the copy. Sorry about that, and thanks to mew for pointing it out.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At bit of a filler chapter (curse writer's block!), but I hope you still enjoy!

"Five thousand. _Five fucking thousand dollars._ " Mark looked with disbelief at the pile of money he and his roommate just finished counting.

"What are we going to do with it?" Felix asked without breaking eye contact with the dollar bills.

"We can't keep it."

"What!?" Felix broke his hypnotized stare to look at Mark with an almost horrified expression. "Do you not realize what we could do with this type of money?"

"Do you not realize how suspicious it would be for us to suddenly have this type of money? And this is meant to be charity money. If we keep it and use it for our selves we are just as bad as Vladimir."

"But...five thousand dollars...Wait, who's Vladimir?"

"The guy stealing this money. Let's make some coffee and I'll tell you about how tonight went down, okay?"

* * *

"So it started out as we had planned. I got inside and found the office without any trouble. And then it got weird. It was like I had a vision but I wasn't aware of it; I was _living_ that moment instead of just seeing it. In that "vision"," Mark made finger quotes, "I put the drive you gave me into the computer but then had to hide because Vladimir came back. And I was pretty much guarantied to be caught. And then I was in the real world again, right before I plugged it in. Needless to say I freaked out and went straight to hiding and found that bag."

"...Woah."

"Yeah."

"Since you aren't going to let us keep the money," Felix gave a half-hearted glare, "Where are we putting it?"

Mark sipped on his coffee and thought. "Jack was talking about the need of money for the children's sector of the hospital. Donating it there would be putting it closer to the givers' original intent."

Felix nodded but then picked up one of the clips. "Are you sure we can't keep a couple hundred?"

* * *

It took two weeks before the Pebble Foundation reported the missing money. It took another week before Mark relaxed figuring that if no one had put together the anonymous donation to the hospital and the stolen money yet it would never happen. Putting the worry out of his mind Mark got to know Jack better, worked on trying to control his new-found power, and researched topics for his blog. Despite not being able to find an inspiration for another article, and therefor being unable to get his blog of the ground, Mark found himself happier than he had been in a long time. And he was pretty sure the cause of it was the excitable man that was becoming a huge part of his life.

But murder was very tempting when he got a text at 1 am ordering him to come to the corner of Main and 24th Street.

Mark ignored it and drifted back into the sweet embrace of sleep.

_**DING** _

Jolting back awake Mark considered whether throwing his phone was a viable option. Narrowly deciding against he opened the message.

 **Jack**   _If you don't get your ass up I will never let you pet Ginger again._

 **Mark**   _im up im up! no need to threaten me u evil bastard_

When Mark arrived to the corner, he found it completely deserted except for Jack bouncing in place.

"How the hell do you have so much energy?"

Jack turned to him and grinned. "How do you not?!"

"Because this is the time for sleep?"

"Baah, who needs sleep?"

"Me!"

"Too bad! Come on!" Jack bounded off, leaving Mark to run after him.

After 10 minutes of walking Jack finally stopped and Mark looked around, recognizing where they were. Echo Valley's name sake, a valley known for the musical reverberations it created with any noise.

"You woke me up just to go to a tourist trap?!"

"Yep!" Jack said, already climbing the chain link fence that blocked anyone from entering the bridge that stretched over the ravine.

"We aren't teenagers who can just go around trespassing without repercussions!"

"Don't worry! I've done this a million times before! There isn't any night guards and the police don't check after midnight!"

"Oh god, I get away with stealing only to be jailed for following this impulsive dork," Mark whispered to himself before shouting, "Wait up!"

Dropping to the other side, Mark asked, "Why are we risking coming here at this ungodly hour?"

"Because I'm betting you've only come during the day."

"Yeah, so what?"

"It is so much better when there is a hundred people here. Try it!"

Mark gave Jack a blank look but willingly went to edge and gave a short whistle. The sound echoed back a dozen times as Mark listened in disbelief.

"See I told you it was better." For once Jack's voice was quiet when he stepped up to Mark's side and cautiously took his hand.

They stood there, listening to any sounds they made echo into a symphony, until the morning sun rose.


End file.
